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From a collection of essays, articles and talks from Australia
and abroad, "Seduced by Grace"
is a story of faith woven from crystallised snapshots of author, Michael
B. Kelly's life. They chart years of spiritual maturation coming to befriend
the truth and giftedness of his life and using his voice to respond to
the call of Christ to speak up for the marginalised. And he speaks so
eloquently.
Kelly tackles the big questions faced by gay Catholics
today: "Can I be healthy, joyous, loving and free as gay and as Catholic?
… Is there a way forward? What is the challenge of the future?"
In struggling to answer these and many more questions he
observes "…a time honoured tradition of returning to the roots
of the Christian experience — to the Gospels — and engage in
the prayerful process, practised in every age, of reading in them my own
journey of faith and of discerning in them the call of God for me today."[Kelly,
"Seduced by Grace", p 27]
Raw honesty from a gay Christian activist...
 I
first encountered Michael B. Kelly
when he was a fellow contributor to the (soon to be reorganised) CathNews
Discussion Board where his wisdom and intelligence earned him great respect
from the members of that early discussion community. His deep sense of
the spiritual shone through every post, even when he came under attack
— actually, most especially when he came under attack. What shocked
me was not that he found himself more and more under attack by an increasing
number of new discussion board members for the views he held, but simply
by virtue of the fact that he was gay. The fact that what he was often
talking about was in fact Catholic teaching apparently had nothing to
do with the matter. He was gay and therefore not worthy of being heard,
full stop. I'd never encountered anything like it.
I'd never encountered such mindless vitriol in the name of religion firsthand
before, and was forever impressed by Michael's patient and respectful
replies; never fighting back or resorting to ad hominum, and always urging
the poster back to the topic at hand. He exemplified his words by his
behaviour towards others and, since actions have always spoken louder
than words, he 'walked the talk'.
Michael's actions are still speaking loud and clear; he is someone who
has always been prepared to lay everything on the line — and he does
it again in every line of this book.
No passive read…
Michael B. Kelly's raw honesty moved and challenged me to see the Christ
he sees. I also found some of his honesty scandalous, but even the shocking
parts challenged me to actually think about these things, often for the
first time. This is no passive read, I can assure you!
Love what he writes, or hate it; one can't remain unmoved by what he
has to say. His questions are our questions, and he challenges us to have
the courage to ask them and to genuinely enter into the struggle for the
answers.
By the time I'd finished reading I was convinced that every family with
a gay* member should read this book — but I soon corrected that to
everyone — full stop! Michael has something very important to say
and we do ourselves and society a disservice if we don't give him a hearing.
As Catholics, we pay lip-service to any ideas of 'compassion, sensitivity
and respect' if we don't at the very least enter into a dialogue with
gay people — which includes truly listening to them — and Michael
B Kelly is certainly a worthy spokesperson.
As a woman I don't pretend to understand what it must be fully like to
inhabit the body and psyche of a man, yet I love men, and particularly
my husband and my own son. As a heterosexual I likewise find it extremely
difficult to personally understand what it must be like to inhabit the
psyche of someone who is sexually attracted to others of their own sex.
It's almost like me trying to imagine what it must be like to have been
born black. In the music industry I have worked with many people who are
gay, and some of them have become close friends.
Michael's voice is a prophetic one. It enables us to better understand
what it must be like to feel imprisoned as one of the sectors of society
who are discriminated against and maligned because of the life circumstances
they were borne into and have very little control over. Michael
Bernard Kelly is a man who carries himself with great dignity
and, in a very real sense, provides leadership not only to gays but to
other sectors in society who are discriminated against and maligned unjustly.
Milly
*In the forward to the book Michael acknowledges that there are a variety
of terms used to describe those with an homosexual orientation, as well
as the fact that there are variety of types of sexual orientation —
but for purposes of brevity he (and I) simply uses the term 'gay'.
LINKS:
Michael Kelly's book is published by Clouds of Magellan Press:
www.cloudsofmagellan.net
Australian retailers definitely stocking Michael B Kelly's book inclujde:
www.johngarratt.com.au,
www.readings.com.au,
www.hares-hyenas.com.au
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Milly
is the pen name of musician and composer Amanda McKenna. She is
the wife and business and creative partner of the Editor of Catholica,
Brian Coyne.
